


A Twist of Fate

by AdrianaintheSnow



Series: Snow Dice Rolls [13]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Acid Burns, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Blood mentioned, Chronic Pain, Gen, Growth Abnormalities, Homelessness, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Malnutrition, Platonic Soulmates, The other sides are mentioned, car accidents mentioned, death mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:08:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25834759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdrianaintheSnow/pseuds/AdrianaintheSnow
Summary: It wasn’t unheard of for people to gain soulmarks later in life, but it was quite rare. Usually fate was set in stone. Yet, when one’s fated death was prevented, fate had to make some adjustments.As he fell, Patton may have felt a strange prickling feeling across his skin. He however, was not paying attention to that, far too distracted and confused. All he knew was that by the time he hit the ground, both of his hands were covered with marks. Later when he went home he’d notice even more in other places, but the ones he noticed when he hit the ground were the obvious ones on his hands.Then, there was Janus. Janus had only one soulmark on his body. At least. He had only one soulmark that hadn’t been burnt off years ago. When he landed on top of Patton, he did not notice the marks that suddenly appeared on his arms and face. Patton did, however, notice two little designs appear on him: one along the side of his nose and the other right below the scaring on the left side of his face. The second was already colored in by the time they hit the ground.
Relationships: Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Morality | Patton Sanders & Sleep | Remy Sanders
Series: Snow Dice Rolls [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610857
Comments: 225
Kudos: 193





	1. Chapter 1

“Found a 20-dollar bill!” Remus called. He was already on his belly halfway under a bush before Janus could move to stop him. Janus sighed. He guessed he was washing the boy’s clothes today. Again. Of course, $20 was probably worth the inconvenience. The nine-year-old wiggled and shimmied under the bush. “Got it!” he said.

“Good job,” Janus complimented. “Now come back out.”

“Now I’m stuck!” Remus informed him happily, giving a little wiggle.

“Why?” Janus groaned. He knelt down next to the still quite squirmy boy. “Stop kicking Remus,” he ordered. His feet stilled and Janus grabbed him by the ankles before yanking on him.

“Ouch!” Remus said, but Janus knew the difference between actually in pain Remus and being a whiny baby Remus and so he kept pulling.

“You.” He punctuated each word with a yank on his legs. “Knew. What. Would. Happen. When. You. Went. Under. There.”

Finally, on the last pull, Remus popped out of the bush. Janus fell backwards onto his butt. “Yeah, but I also knew you’d get me out and fall on your butt!” Remus said while sticking his tongue out.

Janus glared at the sky. “Why are you always such a gremlin?”

Remus giggled and climbed on top of Janus. He slapped the $20 bill down on his chest.

“The person who lost it was supposed to get bread and milk from the store for their dad,” Remus informed him. “When he lost it and couldn’t get the food, his dad said that he was a liar and probably spent it on something stupid. Then his dad hit him in the face and kicked him in the ribs.”

“I see,” Janus said evenly while internally wincing. It wasn’t the worst information to come pouring out of Remus’s mouth, but still. Ouch. He stroked the hair out of Remus’s face and got a gap-toothed smile in return. “Well, we’ll get some good use out of that money, huh?”

“Yeah!” Remus said. “We could get a cake! A whole cake!”

“I don’t know if a whole cake is the best financial decision,” Janus pointed out and got a wobbly lip in return. “But,” he smiled a bit, “we can buy a frosted cookie from the bakery when we get bread.”

“Yayyayyayyayyay!”

Janus gently pushed Remus off of him and he went rolling in a pile of giggles. “Come on Re,” he said, holding out a hand for him. Remus took it and swung their hands together between them. They walked towards the park entrance hand in hand.

Remus paused a couple of feet before the street. “Change now,” he instructed.

Janus did immediately. He stretched his body up about a foot and pulled it out a bit. He erased the burn marks littering the left side of his face and replaced them with a line of unmarred soulmarks framing the apple of his cheek. He carved a couple of age lines into his hands and around his eyes as well as a few more soulmarks on his wrist and hand. Remus adjusted his grip on the now slightly bigger hand without missing a step. Just as Janus finished the shift, a woman with a baby stroller turned the corner. Janus flashed her a smile and she continued past without a second glance.

He and Remus continued to walk until they were on the sidewalk outside of the park. Janus looked to Remus who was squinting into the air. A few seconds later, he pointed to the right. “Bad,” he said. Janus nodded and led him to the left.

The shift was already starting to put a strain on Janus, but he couldn’t let it go while on the street. Usually he could last longer, but he hadn’t gotten much to eat in the last week and had felt a bit dizzy even before forcing his body not only to shift, but to support a larger than natural form. He’d just have to deal. Remus would tell him if he was in danger of passing out anyway, and soon they’d be able to get some real food with the money they’d found today. There was $6.78 in addition to the $20 they’d just found, so they’d be set for a little while if they played their cards right.

Luckily, the bakery was only a couple of blocks from the park and they’d be able to buy some day-old bread for cheap to eat from there as well as the promised cookie to split.

Remus ripped himself away from Janus when they were a couple of feet from the bakery and slammed his little body through the door. He was up at the counter before Janus could get through the door.

“Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!” he was saying, jumping up and down at the cash register.

Luckily the man just seemed amused rather than annoyed by Remus’s antics. “Hello Jimmy,” he said kindly.

“Hi!” Remus said one more time. “I get a cookie today!”

“Do you?” the man asked, amused.

“He does,” Janus confirmed. “He’s been impressively well behaved for once in his life.” Remus titled his head all the way back to stick his tongue out at him.

The man smiled at them softly. He’d never introduced himself in the time that Remus and Janus had been coming here, but he did have a nametag that read ‘Patton.’ Patton was here most days of the week. It was always him, a teenage girl, or the older woman who owned the place working. Janus and Remus agreed that he was the best option. He was always nice and never seemed to be annoyed with Remus (a feat even Janus sometimes struggled with). He’d even snuck them extra food sometimes which was always a nice surprise. “What’ll it be today?” he asked with a smile.

“Two loafs of day-old bread and whatever cookie Jimmy wants,” Janus said.

Patton nodded with a warm smile and moved to get their order. He was always so unflinchingly nice. They’d seen him interact with all sorts of people in the 6 months they’d lived in this neighborhood, and he was always kind to everyone almost… fatherly. Which was why his hands were always a surprise whenever Janus caught sight of them.

It was odd to see someone like him with unmarked hands. Janus’s own hands were unmarked (at least when he wasn’t shifted), but that made sense. Janus didn’t think he’d make a very good parent if he ever even had the opportunity. The one on his wrist for Remus was probably the closest he’d ever get and that was edging more into sibling territory. Yet, by the way Patton looked at Remus and all other children that came into the bakery (at least the children who looked like children), one would expect his hands to be riddled with marks. Chest unmarked? Sure, he just didn’t want to be all gross and kissy with someone. Face unmarked? His parents sucked or weren’t around like Remus’s. Arms? No siblings or sibling like relationships. But, hands? That was a surprise, at least for Patton. He just seemed like… someone who would want to be someone’s dad. He didn’t even have any anywhere near his hands from what Janus had observed. He had two already black ones on his cheeks, probably from his parents, and he almost had to have some friendship ones on his back, but Janus had yet to catch sight of any others.

“Which cookie do you want?” Patton asked.

“Ooo ooo, um,” Remus said. “Should I get the one with a smiley face or the one with the flowers?” he asked.

“Hmm,” Patton contemplated. “How about this. If you could pick any design to be on a cookie, what would it be?”

“Moggie!” Remus said without question. “Moggie’s my favorite!”

“Well, I was decorating a cake a bit ago and I have a bunch of different colored frosting already out and in piping bags so why don’t I go make you one with Moggie-Man on it?”

Remus gasped. “Really?!”

“Of course!” Patton said, eyes fond on an enthusiastic Remus. “Anything for one of my best customers.”

They were hardly his best customers. They consistently only bought the marked down items like the day-old bread that was only a dollar a loaf. Yet, Janus wasn’t going to argue when Remus was so incredibly excited, even if hand frosting a cookie would take longer and Janus was already a bit unsteady on his feet. Instead of ruining the fun, he sat down at one of the closer tables and took out the heal of the bread loaf. He technically hadn’t paid for it yet, but it’d be fine. He shoved it in his mouth, willing his body to accept the offering of carbs and remain upright.

Remus was bouncing up and down while squeaking as Patton went into the back and returned a moment later with bags of purple, black, and grey icing. Janus rolled his eyes even as he smiled through his mouthful of bread.

“Did you know Moggie once broke his collar bone fighting Speed Bullet when he was only 19?!” Remus gushed. “It was so cool! Speed Bullet was moving too fast and Moggie couldn’t teleport in time and he got thrown off a barn. He would have broken his neck and died if he hadn’t ended up in a big pile of hay.”

“O-oh,” Patton replied.

“The hay had cow poop in it!”

“How do you know he was 19?” Patton asked.

“Uh…” Remus said. The ‘oops’ was clear in his eyes, but he recovered easily. “I invented that part. I make things up sometimes.”

“Ah, well, that’s very creative,” Patton said as he finished up the cookie. He handed it over the counter to Remus who took it with a wide grin and proudly showed Janus the cartoon version of the superhero on it. It was really good, especially considering it was done in icing.

“Thank you,” Janus said, standing up and walking to the counter.

“Yes! Thank you, Mister Bakery Guy!”

“It was no trouble,” Patton replied. He was watching Remus with a grin.

Janus coughed, and he looked back up.

“Oh right!” he said. “$4.52.”

Janus handed over 3 of the dollar-bills they’d gotten earlier and counted out the rest in change.

“Thanks!” Patton said, taking the money. “Have a good day you two.”

“Bye,” said Janus. He shooed Remus out of the door and across the street into an alley. “Anything bad?” he asked when they got there. Remus looked up from his cookie for a moment and thought. He shook his head. Janus sighed and let himself shrink back to normal with a groan.

“You feel bad,” Remus informed him.

“Thanks for the info,” Janus replied. “Very helpful.”

Remus frowned at him and offered the cookie. “You can bite off Moggie’s head,” he offered.

Janus chuckled. “You go ahead and do that. I’ll eat his clavicle.”

“Good choice!” Remus said before taking a bite of the icing superhero’s head. When he offered the cookie to Janus again, Janus took a bite. Then, Remus took another bite. They finished the cookie off in that way.

“Okay,” Janus said. “We have about an hour to get groceries before the shop down the block closes, and then we’ll go home.” Home at the moment was a forgotten about shed in an old community garden a few streets away. Remus said they’d freeze to death in the winter if they tried to stay there, so they’d have to find somewhere else soon. The leaves were just starting to turn though, so they probably had enough time to figure something else out, but they did need to be working on it.

Janus pushed himself to his feet. The bread and half a cookie had helped, and the shifting this time only burnt a little bit. It would be even better once they had something with protein and fat after going to the grocery store. Janus took Remus’s hand again and they made their way to the shop.


	2. Chapter 2

Patton could not keep the small wistful smile off his face when Jimmy and his… brother? uncle? guardian? (He almost certainly wasn’t the kid’s father because there were no soulmarks on Jimmy’s face. He’d seen the mark on Jimmy’s forearm though that matched the colored in one on the man’s wrist. Perhaps he was a much older brother.)… left. Patton liked the little boy who frequently came into the bakery even though Jimmy sometimes said weird or scary things. Patton did not know the boy’s story but considering the absence of any parental soulmarks that would typically mark a person’s face, he imagined there was a reason for the way his mind seemed to stray to darker thoughts. At least he seemed happy with his guardian now. The man barely ever spoke, a quiet contrast to the little boy who seemed unable to stop talking for five seconds without exploding, but he clearly loved Jimmy. They were sweet together.

“You are so soft for kids,” a voice said from next to him, making him startle a bit. He had not noticed Remy leave the table he’d been camped out at all day.

Patton smiled at him once he’d calmed down from the small fright. “More coffee, Remy?” he asked.

Remy made the twirling motion with his pointer finger that translated to him rolling his eyes since he couldn’t remove his sunglasses. “How long have we known each other, babe?” he asked.

Patton rolled his own eyes for real and took his offered coffee cup. “Want anything to eat?”

“Nah, just the caffeine.”

Patton nodded and absentmindedly went about filling the coffee cop, but then he paused when he caught sight of the clock and spun around. He crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ve been studying since breakfast time. I don’t remember you ordering any lunch.”

“I’ll get lunch in a bit,” Remy said, waving him off.

“Remy, it’s an hour ‘til closing.”

“…Shit.”

Patton sighed and shook his head, finishing up getting him his refill before turning to grab him a bacon and cheese croissant out of the display case. “Eat,” Patton said, shoving the food and drink at him.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say _dad._ ”

Patton smiled slightly even as he felt his heart twinge at that word. Remy seemed to notice his discontent and reached across the counter to give him a soft punch on the shoulder. “Bad day?” he asked.

Patton shrugged. It was always a bit of a sore spot, but usually not so much that Remy joking with him in that way would sting.

“Sorry Pat,” Remy said. “Didn’t meant to make it worse.”

“It’s fine Remy,” Patton promised. “I’m fine.”

Remy studied him for a moment with a frown, and Patton squirmed under the intensity of his gaze even if it was hidden behind the dark shades. “No, you’re not,” he said bluntly and maybe that’s why he and Remy were soulmates. He was willing to _say it_ unlike everyone else who either politely avoided the subject when they were being nice and when they weren’t… well, let’s just say, Patton had heard the term “unloved” far too many times in his life.

Remy had always done his best, but ever since Patton’s parents had died two years ago dwindling his number of soulmates from a measly three down to one, the insult had started stinging more and more.

It did not help that Patton could see the writing on the wall (or perhaps on the skin would be more accurate) when it came to Remy. Remy was his platonic soulmate, and Patton loved him so, so much, but, well, Patton was aware that… Remy had a lot of life to live outside of Patton.

Remy wasn’t quite what one would call a “well-loved,” but his number of soulmates was in the higher range of normal. There were three on his face: two from his parents and a “blessing mark” from his grandmother. One dotted his wrist for his baby sister who was still in middle school who he’d practically helped raise. There were five that littered his back in different places, only two filled in so far including the one from Patton. (Patton’s had filled in long ago when they were in 3rd grade, and at least Patton had that. Patton could claim the spot of Remy’s first non-familiar soulmate. It made him a little bit special even if… even if Patton could tell it wouldn’t last.) The one soulmark on his chest waited to be filled in by his romantic soulmate, and Patton had to imagine the two on his hands for future children would follow after that.

Patton was happy for him. He was! He’d have a lot of love in his life and Patton loved him so much he couldn’t resent that. The thing was, usually, people had some overlapping soulmates. Maybe Patton wouldn’t have all of Remy’s friends as soulmates, but he should at least have one indicating he would get to know the romantic one, right? One would think he’d have something for Remy’s future kids, because he already knew he would love them if he ever met them. Even just… even just one overlapping friendship soulmate would make Patton feel better. Patton should have some sign of being a part of Remy’s future social circle engraved onto his skin.

Unless.

Unless, well, unless Patton ended up not mattering much in the end.

It hurt to think about. It hurt to know that Patton was likely just an important childhood friend whom he would eventually drift away from as his life moved on without him. Yet, Patton had no one else. Patton would never have anyone else. He had three soulmates. All of them met. Two of them gone.

It didn’t sound much like a happy ending.

“I’ll be fine,” Patton replied. “It’s just a bad day. I’ll be right as rain tomorrow.”

Remy’s fingertips tapped on the rim of his coffee cup a few times. “You should adopt.”

Patton blinked at the suddenness and ludicrousness of that suggestion. He almost laughed. “Who is going to let _me_ adopt anyone?” Patton asked, waving both of his hands around sadly.

“Adopt a soulless kid.”

“Don’t call them that,” he hissed, immediately.

Remy jerked at the sudden venom in his tone. “It’s just what they’re called Pat,” he said. “I wasn’t being mean. It’s their government designation…”

“I know…” Patton said. “It just seems so… mean.” Like ‘unloved,’ but at least ‘unloved’ didn’t make it onto his driver’s license. At least he had the option to pull on a cardigan and go around under the radar with most people not even knowing how many soulmarks he had.

“See,” Remy said. “You’d be perfect to take one in. You’d be thoughtful and patient even with their status. It’s probably what a lot of them need.”

“I don’t even know if people _can_ adopt them,” Patton said.

“Well, someone has to take care of them:” Remy pointed out, “adoption or fostering or some other thing special to them. Maybe you could do that.”

“I still don’t know if they’d allow me to. You can adopt people who aren’t your soulmates, but they don’t usually allow people like me to…” He’d looked up adopting once when he was a teenager on one of the nights when his heart ached too much to sleep, just to see if he’d ever be able to. He’d found one couldn’t even apply for adoption without a hand or lower arm soulmark, a biological relationship to the child, or a soulmate who had a biological relationship to the child. Yet… people with no soulmarks were treated differently by the government, usually for the worse, but… maybe they’d let someone they thought was incapable of giving parental love foster someone who they thought was incapable of receiving any love at all. “Maybe I’ll look into it.”

“You should,” Remy said. “I know you’d make a great dad.”

Patton chuckled humorlessly, looking down at his blank hands. “Clearly.”

“Don’t be like that, Pat. Even if it wouldn’t be exactly what everyone else has, that wouldn’t make it necessarily bad. You don’t have to be someone’s soulmate to love them.” Patton knew that. He knew that very well. He’d loved or wanted to love so many people in his life. They’d just never seemed to want to accept that love let alone love him back.

He smiled at Remy sadly. “Like I said, I’ll think about it.” He shook the thought away. “Not eat your croissant and then go home and get some rest, Rem. I know you’re worried about your exam tomorrow, but passing out from exhaustion and/or low blood sugar in the middle of it won’t help you finish med school.”

“That’s what coffee’s for.”

“ _Remy._ ”

“Yeah, yeah, fine,” he grumbled, sticking half of the croissant into his mouth. Having a full mouth did not stop him from talking however, “but afterwards I’m coming straight to your house and we’re going to eat pizza and watch horrible romantic comedies until the sun comes up the next morning.”

Patton chuckled. “It’s a good thing I don’t work until Sunday.” Remy nodded, already finishing the rest of the croissant. He grabbed his coffee cup and went to take a big gulp. “Remy that’s _hot_!”

He set the cup down on the table once he was finished downing about 1/3 of it. “I fear no god. Put it in a to-go cup for me?”

He turned to wander back to his table as Patton grabbed a to-go cup from under the counter. Patton watched as he opened his backpack and slid all of his study materials into it in a disorganized mess before slinging it over his shoulder. “Don’t give me that look,” he said when he saw Patton watching. “I have to keep up my image of a hot mess.” Patton handed him his coffee cup when he came back over. “See you later Pat.” He leaned forward to give Patton a smooch on the nose, and Patton batted him away.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Remy.” Remy turned around and shot him finger guns, almost walking straight into someone as he exited the bakery door. “And watch where you’re going! You’ll get hit by a car if you’re not careful.”

He turned the finger guns into birds knowing he was too far away for Patton to chide him. He was gone in the next moment. Patton shook his head. There wasn’t anyone left sitting in the bakery. He decided to go ahead and start prepping to close. Maybe he’d be able to go home early.


	3. Chapter 3

Janus had grown skilled over the last few years at shopping with the little money they were able to find. They’d found that finding lost money was less dangerous than begging as it didn’t draw as much attention to them or steeling which could put them at risk, but it was also based on luck therefore not as lucrative. With Remus’s abilities they could usually pull in at least $20 dollars a week which was enough, but not enough to spend carelessly.

They’d usually spend about $2 on bread from the bakery. Then, they’d spend about $10 on canned protein like beans and sometimes meat, $5 on vegetables and fruit, and save the rest for bad weeks. They’d managed to get enough for a big bag of rice a while back that also helped. The only problem was building a fire to boil the water, but they managed. They always managed.

Overall life could be a lot worse, which was something Janus always remembered when Remus steered them down a different path.

Remus was humming what Janus thought might be “Ring Around the Rosy,” as they walked back down the street towards the bakery. He’d been in a good mood ever since he’d gotten his cookie. Janus was also in a good mood, but that had less to do with the cookie and more to do with the fact that they’d had enough money to spare to buy a few potatoes. It would be nice to eat something hearty and fresh for a change. They’d have to wait to eat them until later in the week when they had more daylight left to cook them, but it was something to look forward to. Now it was beginning to get dark. Most of the stores were closing or closed and they needed to get back to their shed soon.

His mind was on dinner plans for the night when they came up on the bakery. Janus actually noticed Patton before Remus did, but he didn’t think anything of it. The man was locking up the store. He turned away from it and took a step towards the street, likely intending to cross to the parking lot on the other side of it. That’s when Remus’s humming stopped.

Remus’s hand came up to point at the man. “He’s going to get hit by a car,” Remus said, his tone matter of fact. He always spewed out his predictions calmly no matter how horrible. The screaming and crying would inevitably come later.

Janus wasn’t sure what compelled him that day. Perhaps he was used to taking action wherever Remus spat out a prediction. Perhaps he saw he was close enough and simply didn’t want to stand idly by and watch whatever Remus already saw in his head. Perhaps he just had the image of a freshly decorated cookie in his mind. No matter the reason, however, he found his hands dropping the bags of groceries they’d been holding and his legs propelling him forward and into the street just as a car turned a nearby corner going far too fast.

He felt himself shift a bit on instinct to make his legs spring just a bit more and make him run faster. The novel use of his powers sent a searing sensation through his muscles that would have hurt if he’d had time to think about it, but he did not slow. He rammed into Patton with enough force that they both went flying and tumbled towards the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road from the bakery.

Many things happened in that moment.

First, there was Patton. Patton had started working at the bakery when he’d moved back into his parents’ house after they’d passed. He’d known the owner for years and the idea had been that since she was getting older, she’d eventually let him buy it. Having no living relatives, she’d even written him into her will in case she passed before then not knowing that it was never meant to be, because he was fated to die years before she did. He was meant to die this day.

From the moment he’d been born, the car rocketing down the street right now had been moving towards him. Everything he’d ever done had brought him to that street at that time from his choice to make cupcakes all by himself for his father’s birthday when he was 8 to the decision to do the sweeping early so he could get home sooner today. He would have died before the ambulance got there.

It always had been strange to the people who knew him that Patton had so few soulmarks. He always seemed to have a lot of love to give. Yet, with that car always in the distance, there was no way he’d be around long enough for more people to etch such a mark into his skin.

Today, fate twisted. It wasn’t unheard of for people to gain soulmarks later in life, but it was quite rare, and then it was usually only one or two. In fact, in Patton’s lifetime there had only been one recorded case. Usually fate was set. It took a very strong power to make any large enough change in the world to alter soulmarks. Yet, in the face of a psychic like Remus whose predictions were some of the clearest and strongest in history, things could be changed. And, when a death so written into someone’s destiny was prevented, a lot of things changed.

As he fell, Patton may have felt a strange prickling feeling across his skin. He, however, was not paying attention to that, far too distracted and confused. All he knew was that by the time he hit the ground, both of his hands were covered with marks. Later, when he went home, he’d notice even more in other places, but the ones he’d noticed then were the obvious ones: the ones on his hands.

Then, there was Janus. Before he’d jumped, Janus had only one soulmark on his body when he hadn’t shifted more onto himself to blend in. At least, he had only one soulmark that hadn’t been burnt off years ago. Instead, the marks adorning the left side of his face were made by acid. They had once been soulmarks, but his parents had died when he was seven and he had been swooped up by Halo Mark before the normal channels or anyone else that may have wanted to take him realized what had happened. They had a policy with new kids to burn off soulmarks whether colored in already or otherwise.

For 3 years, he’d had no soulmarks. Then, one day, a smaller boy had shown up, only 7 at the time. He’d not gained a soulmark on that day, but Janus had been nice to the scared child with haunted eyes. More importantly, as he’d learned, he’d put the idea into the 7-year-olds head that he could _lie._ Up until then Remus had always reported exactly what he saw and how he saw it. He’d been very valuable in that way, but Janus had put the idea in his head to use his visions for himself instead of for others, especially others that hurt him. The next thing he knew, Janus was free. The second Remus had pulled him from the building they’d been held in and out onto the busy city street, new soulmarks had appeared on Janus’s wrist and on Remus’s arm. It was the first time Remus had ever changed fate with his predictions himself.

Today, Janus lost his shift somewhere midair. When he landed on top of Patton, he did not notice the marks that suddenly appeared on his arm and face. He assumed the weird tingle was from the way he’d recently extended his powers.

Patton did, however, notice two little designs fade in on the face of the boy on top of him: one along the side of his nose and the other right below the scaring on the left side of his face. The second was already colored in blue by the time they hit the ground.

And, they would learn later, the two in a tangle of limbs were not the only people affected by that change in fate that day. In fact, many people were, but only a few actually knew something had happened in that moment.

First, there was Remus of course. He felt the prickle of the newly drawn soulmarks that suddenly appeared on his face, hands, back, and chest. He looked away from the scene for a moment to blink down at the one on his pinkie in confusion and then looked back up.

Second, a man about to walk into his night class at the local community college froze halfway through his step, confused and concerned. His first thought was that he was having a stroke at 28, but the strange tingly feeling faded after a moment. When he caught sight of his hands, he turned and rushed off to the bathroom to see why the back of his neck had been tingling too.

Last, hundreds of miles away in a different city, a boy jerked up suddenly in his bed with a gasp. He shook the boy sleeping beside him awake. “Logan,” he said. “Something good just happened!”

As the last word left the boy’s lips, the car that had been meant to hit Patton disappeared around another turn, still going too fast. Patton looked up at the child who had fallen on top of him. He slowly reached up to gently touch the side of his face near the burns. The new yellow soulmark on the back of his hand was the same shape as the filled in one on the boy’s lower cheek. “Hi,” said Patton.


	4. Chapter 4

It took a moment for Patton to get his breath back after he collided with the ground, his back stinging from where it had slid slightly against the pavement. He heard a car zooming by where he’d been standing a moment before.

Had he almost died?

He hadn’t even noticed the car; it had come out of nowhere, and he would have gotten hit if a young boy hadn’t tackled him. How the boy had been able to notice the situation and react to it that quickly, Patton didn’t know, but he was certainly grateful.

He caught sight of the back of his hands and was surprised to see what he immediately identified as soulmarks even though that made absolutely no sense because he’d never had soulmarks on his hands. Suddenly having soulmates was something he’d never dared wish for, and now he had at least 5 more just on the back of his hands, one of which was already filled in.

Without even making the decision to do so, his hand came up to cup the boy’s cheek gently. “Hi,” Patton said softly. He could help but stare at the soulmark on his face, also colored in and the shape of which perfectly matched the one on Patton’s hand.

“Are you okay?” the boy asked.

“Fine,” Patton replied. “My back’s probably a little scrapped up, but it’s better than the alternative. Are you okay?”

The boy didn’t seem to expect the question. “I’m fine,” he said. His face was half taken up by a burn, Patton noticed, and it was perhaps silly that he was only just noticing it now, but one might forgive him considering his mind was elsewhere. The pattern… didn’t look random. It was a thought which made Patton feel a bit queasy. It was also clearly not fresh. He was so young; how old must he have been when he’d gotten it?

The boy appeared to notice the way he was staring at the scar and seemed to grow visibly uncomfortable. He looked down at his hand currently on Patton’s chest and grimaced for some reason that Patton could not puzzle out. He seemed confused and perhaps even a bit horrified looking at his own arm. Patton added that fact to list of questions quickly growing as his heartbeat settled back into its normal rhythm.

His attention returned to the matching soulmarks once again. The location of the mark on Patton’s hand inarguably indicated a parent child relationship was destined between them, but the boy was older than Patton would expect, 10 to 12 probably. He recalled from when he’d read up on adoption that one is more likely to have a soulmark that drifted to the wrist if one met their child soulmate later in development. Usually by the time a child was a preteen, it would be on the wrist or even towards the palm. Yet, this soulmark was firmly planted in the center of Patton’s hand.

Patton had definitely been staring at him for too long and the slight discomfort from before started to shift into something worse. He looked like he was getting ready to bolt.

“We should probably move from the middle of the sidewalk,” Patton suggested, hoping to keep him from running. “Why don’t we go to the bakery? I’ll get you some food and something to drink in thanks, and we can calm down from that fright.”

Patton watched a war happen on his face. Whatever was wrong seemed to be challenged by the prospect of getting food, and Patton couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a very bad thing. Judging by his skittishness, Patton felt it was probably a bad thing.

He nodded hesitantly after a moment, and Patton smiled gently at him. “You’re going to have to get off me first kiddo,” he pointed out.

The kid rolled off of him, and they both got to their feet. Patton offered him a hand without even thinking about it and after a bit of wavering, he took it.

“Um… look both ways?” he suggested when they turned to the street.

Right. Patton very carefully looked both ways and listened intently for any sounds of approaching vehicles. He imagined he would be doing something similar whenever he crossed a street for a while going forward. When he was sure it was safe, they crossed the street together.

There was another child loitering near the bakery door, one that Patton recognized. He shifted back and forth on his feet, staring at them.

“Jimmy,” Patton said confused. He glanced around but there were no other adults nearby. “Why are you here alone? Where’s your…” He remembered he didn’t actually know the nature of Jimmy’s relationship to the soulmate who always brought him to the bakery. “Where’s the man you’re usually with?”

“Uh,” Jimmy said. “He disowned me and abandoned me on the street.” Patton saw the boy whose hand he was holding make some sort of gesture out of the corner of his eyes. “I mean…” Jimmy said. “He slit his own throat to get away from me.”

“No,” the second boy hissed.

Jimmy threw up his hands. “That’s the gesture you were doing!”

“…Why don’t you come inside too, Jimmy,” Patton suggested as he unlocked the door. He was far too young to be out on his own especially when it was going to be getting dark soon. Plus, the two kids clearly knew each other, despite the fact that Patton had never seen the boy who’d saved him before.

“Kay,” Jimmy agreed easily.

Patton shepherded the two boys through the door. “Um,” he said. “How about cinnamon rolls and juice? At least to start.”

Jimmy’s eyes lit up. “We’re getting food?!” he asked excitedly. “Bonus food!”

“I, yes,” Patton agreed because he didn’t know what else to say. “Bonus food.” He went around the counter and grabbed two cinnamon rolls and a couple of bottles of juice, making a mental note to reimburse the bakery for them later. He set them down at a table and gestured for the two boys to come over. Jimmy skipped over without any pause, but the other boy stood at the door for a moment before coming over. Jimmy started snacking on his cinnamon roll the moment he set down, but the other boy just looked at the food for a couple of long moments.

Patton took a seat on the other side of the table from the boys. “What’s your name?” he asked the boy who’d saved him.

“Why do you want to know?” was immediately shot back.

Patton didn’t react to the sharpness of his tone, though he internally wondered about the sudden defensiveness. “Well,” he reasoned. “You just saved my life. I’d like to know who I’m thanking.”

“Evan,” he said after a moment.

“Well, hello Evan,” Patton said. “It’s nice to meet you. Thank you for your help before.”

“It…” Evan said. “I was there.”

“So you were,” Patton agreed. “Still, thank you.”

Evan shrugged and looked back down at his cinnamon roll.

“Would you like something else?” Patton asked. “I can get you something different if you want.” He turned to glance at Jimmy just to see that he’d already finished his cinnamon roll. He was grinning widely and swinging his feet back and forth, his face covered in icing. He’d even managed to get a bit on his ear. Patton couldn’t help but smile at the adorable picture. “I can get you more too if you want Jimmy.”

Jimmy’s face dropped so suddenly and violently that it just about gave him whiplash. “You’re really nice,” he said, and there were tears in his eyes that spilled over without warning. “I’m glad you didn’t get crushed underneath a car and bleed to death alone on the road before the ambulance got there,” he cried.

Patton found himself reaching out to him as he sobbed, trying to give some form of comfort. Before Patton quite knew what was happening, Jimmy had scooted of his chair and climbed directly into Patton’s lap. Patton’s breath caught as his skin tingled, another of the soulmarks on his hand coloring in. Yet, he was too concerned with the sobbing child in his lap to wonder about how or why all of this was happening suddenly. Instead, he wrapped his arm around the child and hushed him. Jimmy nuzzled his cheek into Patton’s chest as Patton stroked a careful hand through his hair.

“It’s okay,” Patton soothed. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”

Patton glanced at Evan over the top of Jimmy’s head. Evan appeared distressed at Jimmy’s distress but tried to blank his face out when he saw Patton looking. Patton didn’t know much about what was going on with these boys, but he suddenly felt a strong wave of protectiveness for the small child trying to keep an image of strength and coldness as well as for the even smaller child curled up in his arms.

Jimmy drew back after a few moments to peer at him, still teary eyed. Patton let his thumb trace the light blue mark that had appeared under his left eye. There was another one on his chin, Patton realized, and it was one that definitely hadn’t been there before. Patton had specifically noted that he didn’t have any parental soulmarks. This one was not filled in unlike Patton’s.

Jimmy reached up to touch Patton’s face, mirroring the touch Patton was giving him with his slightly sticky fingers, and Patton caught sight of the other filled in soulmark on the boy’s forearm. Where was Jimmy’s uncle or brother or whatever he was? Patton had to wonder. He’d never seen Jimmy or the man without the other. It was strange that Jimmy wasn’t with him now, and more than that, didn’t seem worried about finding him.

Jimmy was no longer crying. He looked at Patton for a long while with far too old eyes that made Patton’s heart ache a bit for reasons he couldn’t name. “Can I have apple juice instead?” he finally broke his silence.

Patton snorted out a laugh at the sudden question. This was why Patton had always loved kids: wailing one moment and critiquing his drink choices the next.

“Sure, kiddo,” he agreed. “I’ll get you some apple juice.”

He glanced over at Evan as Jimmy crawled out of his lap. The other boy was looking over at Jimmy with a fondly exasperated look and Patton blinked, studying him. The look was strangely familiar. He studied Evan a little more intently. He was wearing clothing that was far too big for him and looking at them, they looked very familiar. He recognized that shirt from being on a taller body earlier.

It took him a few moments, but Patton was not stupid. The missing guardian, the way he’d looked at his hand earlier and grimaced, the clothes… Patton tilted his head to look and saw the soulmark on the Evan’s wrist that matched the one on Jimmy’s forearm.

He was a shapeshifter. It was the only thing that made sense. Evan was the man who usually came in with Jimmy. He must have shifted himself to look like an adult and shifted the scar off his face. It would explain why he seemed afraid earlier when Patton had been looking at the scar. He must have lost his shift when he’d tackled Patton.

Patton didn’t voice his revelation as he got to his feet to grab a different juice box from the bakery refrigerator.

The question then, of course, became what the circumstances were that made Evan need to shape shift to look older so frequently. It clearly wasn’t a game. From the little Patton knew about that specific superpower, it took a lot of energy and the power usually was one that wouldn’t fully develop until his late teens. He remembered a girl in high school came fully into her powers during their last year. She shifted into one of the teachers once for a joke and then proceeded to consume an entire pizza because it had burnt so many calories. Yet, Evan had managed to consistently fully shift into a convincing adult on a regular basis. It was impressive, but extremely worrying. Patton’s and the unfilled soulmark were the only ones on Evan’s and Jimmy’s faces which painted a worrying picture. No one was taking care of them, were they?

So, Patton guessed it fell to him now. The last thing he’d expected was to become a dad today or ever really, but that’s what was happening.

“What’s on your face?” Evan asked Jimmy as Patton walked back over.

Jimmy’s eyes flickered to Patton, telling Patton that he already very well knew what it was. “Sprinkle,” he muttered.

“Bullshit!”

“That’s maybe not the best word to use, don’t you think,” Patton said with a frown. “It’s a bit mean.”

Evan narrowed his eyes at Patton. “You’re not my dad,” he hissed. Jimmy twitched nervously at that. Evan must have noticed because his head shot to look at him. “What?”

“Um…” Jimmy reached forward and pushed the silver reflective napkin dispenser towards him.

Evan looked into it, blinked, and touched the filled in mark on his face. “What the fuck?”

“That’s not a nice word,” Patton said.

Evan looked at him, lips pulling into a snarl. His teeth almost seemed to sharpen… in fact considering he was a shapeshifter they may have. “Go stick a cactus up your fucking ass.”

“O-oh,” said Patton, startled.

Evan turned on Jimmy. “What the hell is going on?”

“You saved him, fate was changed, and so we got more soulmarks,” Jimmy explained calmly. Jimmy reached to take Patton’s hand and Patton let him. He showed the marks on the back of Patton’s hand.

“Absolutely not!” said Evan, standing up and shaking his head. “Nope, this isn’t happening. We aren’t doing that.”

“I-” Patton said, but Evan cut him off, putting his arms out in front of him like he was trying to keep Patton away from him even though Patton hadn’t taken a step towards him.

“I am not putting myself at the mercy of some random person just because I got a weird freckle on my face,” he said. The way he phrased it combined with everything else he’d inferred about their current situation made bile rise in Patton’s throat. “Fuck that noise!”

“It wouldn’t be like that,” Patton promised.

“I’m not an idiot,” Evan retorted.

“You stayed with me because of a soulmark,” Jimmy said softly.

Evan hesitated. “That’s different,” he stammered. “A-and I would have stayed without it.” They looked at each other for a long moment. Jimmy crossed his arms. Evan looked lost and stressed. “We can’t,” Evan said. “You know why we can’t.”

“You don’t have to stay with me,” Patton said even though the thought broke his heart. It was not about him, he knew. There was something else going on and as much as he wanted to grab them both and bundle them up in bubble wrap, soulmarks or no, he could tell it wouldn’t go over well. “I won’t keep you, but why don’t you come to my house, just for a visit. I’ll cook you something good for dinner and you two can get cleaned up. Maybe you can even sleep for a bit. Then you can leave in the morning or at any point if you want. How about that?”

“Like I’m supposed to believe you’re actually giving us a choice,” Evan said bitterly. “I know adults. They lie and break promises all the time.”

“Go then,” Patton said even though it stung. The worst thing he could do right now was try to make them stay. Clearly, they’d been hurt before, been trapped before. He wouldn’t do the same thing to them again. He had to believe fate would bring them back no matter what they chose. “I won’t stop you. I’ll ask that you take my address just in case you change your mind, but I’d never force someone to stay with me.”

“You’re lying,” Evan said.

“I’m not.”

“You’ll call the cops on us as soon as we go and have them deliver us to your doorstep. They won’t even question it because of our soulmarks.”

“No,” Patton said.

He searched Patton’s face for a long time and then he looked at Jimmy. Jimmy just bit his lip and looked down. “I can’t see right now,” he said. “Anything. On the streets would be more dangerous.” Patton wasn’t sure what that meant, but it seemed to stress Evan out even more.

He looked back at Patton.

“One night,” Evan said. “You don’t separate us and there needs to be a way for us to leave at any time.”

“Okay,” Patton agreed with a soft smile. He was relieved. They were giving him a chance. He just had to do his best to convince them to stay.


	5. Chapter 5

Janus woke in a bed and immediately panicked. A million terrified thoughts about why and how he was in a bed rushed through his mind before he even had a chance to peak open his eyes. Yet, then, through the darkness of his thoughts, he felt familiar little feet digging into his back. With a slow breath, he opened his eyes and craned his head around to find Remus smashed into the twin sized bed with him. He gave his head a few seconds to catch back up with his situation.

The bakery man, Patton. Remus had predicted Patton’s death, and Janus had saved him. That action had changed fate so much that Janus and Remus had both gotten new soulmarks. Janus wasn’t even sure how many each of them had gotten; he hadn’t bothered to check yet. However, he did know that one of the soulmarks belonged to Patton.

It was absolutely terrifying. A parental soulmate. If it had been any other type of soulmate, it would have been easier. The problem with a parental soulmate is that if Patton wanted to, he could basically legally keep them. They were both minors with no biological parents left. Very few people would argue the point even if Janus and Remus went in kicking and screaming. Plus, being forced to stay in one place with adults who refused to listen would be a death sentence, and even if it wasn’t, they’d still be trapped. The blue star on Janus’s face was for all intents and purposes a mark of ownership. As someone who had lived in a cage for a few years, it didn’t exactly sit well with him.

But.

But, no matter how dangerous Patton may end up being to them, Janus knew with the state of Remus’s visions, they didn’t have a chance on the outside.

Remus had explained exactly what had happened after they “went to sleep” last night. Janus knew already that large changes in fate could potentially muddy a psychic’s vision for a time, particularly when said change personally affected the one having the visions. They didn’t often have to deal with this fact, as Remus was currently one of the two most powerful psychics in the world, his birth having been prophesied as far as hundreds of years ago (bar some important details), and as such small changes didn’t mess with his powers as much as they did other psychics’. However, there had been two instances where his abilities had dampened to a noticeable degree.

The first time had been when he’d helped Janus escape Halo Mark, though he’d still gotten enough feedback to keep them from getting recaptured. That instance had also corresponded to Remus and Janus getting new soulmarks, though each of them had only gotten one that time: the sibling ones for each other.

The second time had been at a seemingly random time. He and Janus had been on the run together for around six months when his visions had suddenly dimmed considerably to both of their distress. Remus had no idea what had caused it but had noticed a change in the landscape of the future when his visions returned the next day. He theorized that it must have been a good change as he couldn’t see many new events, just the absences of some. Remus could only see bad future and past events, so him not getting an influx of new things, probably was a net positive for the world. His best guess was that whatever the change was, it must have caused the sudden and inexplicable erasure of the death of the superhero Moxie Man that had been fated to occur in over two decades.

However, this circumstance was not quite like those two other times, because this time Remus could see nothing at all. Fate was apparently still in flux after Patton’s life was saved. Until it settled, Remus would have no more idea what the future held than Janus. This was a problem considering that Janus and Remus as 12 and 9-year-olds living on the streets and at least one of whom was still being doggedly tracked by Halo Mark, routinely almost died every day. Remus’s visions were what guided them to food and shelter and away from murders and people who would put them back in cages.

Which meant Patton, with his willingness to provide food and shelter and not murder them on the spot for the time being was a known risk and better than the possible alternatives. They may very well still end up in cages or dead, but it was the only chance they had.

So, Janus had let Patton take them back to his house and feed them dinner. He’d accepted the clean clothes and the shower. The only protest that had left his lips had been when Patton suggested they sleep in the closed off basement citing the fact that there was a queen sized bed down there, and if Janus and Remus refused to be in different rooms for the night, it would be more comfortable. Instead, they’d ended up sleeping in what Patton said had been his childhood bedroom, full of posters and pastel colors.

Janus had not wanted to submit to sleep the night before, but his body had been exhausted, so he had ended up asleep after a few hours. At least nothing had happened during the night. He was still okay. Remus was with him, and he could see sunlight peaking through the curtains on the window. He was running on the hope that Patton would keep up the nice act at least long enough for Remus to get his visions back. Though, he was unsure what would happen if Janus and Remus tried to leave.

Janus’s thoughts were brought back to the present when Remus started doing his typical morning squirming. He’d be up in a few minutes. A hand flopped over Janus’s chest and he mumbled something before his feet climbed up Janus’s back. Janus winced as they kicked the back of his neck lightly. The boy’s upper half wiggled and then flopped part way over Janus as his feet continued to kick a pattern into the air. He let out a soft humming sound and eventually his body poured completely over Janus, so he landed in a heap on the other side. He then continued to wiggle.

Janus reached out to grab one of his flailing hands, and after a moment, he calmed down a bit. His eyes flickered open. “Janus?” he asked.

“Mmm.”

He reached out to pat Janus’s cheeks a couple of times. “I’m’wake.”

“I can see that.”

“Go’ ‘orning.”

“Good morning, Remus.”

There were a couple more moments of sleepy calm. Then, Remus woke up the rest of the way.

He popped up onto his knees on the bed, jostling Janus a bit. His eyes widened when he noticed how bouncy his sleeping surface was, and he bounced a couple of times. “I smell food!” he declared, still bouncing as he said it. “Do you think it’s good food? It smells like bacon. Will Patton burn the house down? I can’t see if he will or not. He cooked good spaghetti last night. Is that easy to cook? Is he a good cook? Will it taste good? Will it just be bacon? That would just be protein and fat. Does he know that? Did you know you can get malnourished if you don’t eat enough carbs even if you’re eating enough calories? You can die from it! Should we go down for breakfast or wait until he comes and gets us? Will he be mad if we pick wrong? Will he never come up to see us if we don’t go down and then we’ll starve to death? Where are my clothes? This shirt’s too big, but it’s really soft. It smells like lavender. Is that his detergent? Did you know eating one of the laundry pods can make you die? I wonder if he uses the laundry pods or the liquid stuff. If I lick my shirt and there is detergent on it, will I die? He washed my usual clothes yesterday after I changed. Will they smell like lavender too? I should check!” With that, Remus bounced out of bed to go grab his clothes.

Janus followed him out of bed. Patton had washed the clothes they’d arrived in, and they were probably now cleaner than they’d been since they’d gotten them. Remus continued to chatter as they dressed about nothing in particular. He seemed rather content in this new environment even while Janus was in constant worry. Of course, he usually relied on his visions to tell him if something was bad and may just instinctually be assuming if he wasn’t seeing anything, everything was fine, so Janus wasn’t sure if he should completely trust the boy’s perspective.

Once they were both dressed, they headed downstairs hand in hand.

“Hi boys,” Patton said when they arrived at the bottom of the steps. He was in the kitchen, but had angled himself, so he had a view of the stairs. Janus wasn’t sure if that was to make sure they didn’t make a break for it or just him being eager to greet them when they woke. “Want something to eat?” He seemed to already understand the power of food, and Janus wondered if that would be used against them soon.

“Yeah!” Remus said with no hesitation, perking up. For someone who only ever saw the worst of humanity, he had been strangely trusting when it came to Patton. His eagerness made Janus bristle a bit.

“Why don’t you come wash your hands and sit. I’m almost done.”

“Do I gotta?” Remus whined.

“Wash your hands?” Patton asked.

“Yeah, I took a shower just last night! I’m clean!”

Janus almost rolled his eyes at that assumption but was too preoccupied with watching Patton’s expression. Patton was frowning slightly, and Janus found himself waiting for his reaction with bated breath. Clearly, he wanted to say yes, Remus had to wash his hands, but if they pushed him would he deny Remus food over it?

Patton dithered. “I would prefer that you did so,” he said slowly after a moment, “as it is a good habit to have. Not washing your hands before you eat can make you sick since you might be getting germs into your mouth. That being said, I can’t make you do anything.”

“Yay!” Remus cheered.

“Go wash your hands, Remus,” Janus instructed firmly before he ran away with the idea.

“Aw,” he pouted, but listened. He wandered off to do as Janus asked, and Janus and Patton briefly met eyes before Janus turned to follow him. Remus had tucked his tongue between his teeth as he stood on his tiptoes to turn the water on. He wouldn’t be able to reach the soap where it was, so Janus reached forward and handed it to him. Janus’s reward for his good dead was a face full of bubbles once Remus got it into a lather. Janus sighed.

Once Remus’s hands were clean, instead of going to the table, he padded off to stand next to Patton as the man finished cooking the eggs. They immediately struck up a conversation about bugs Remus had seen in the last month. Meanwhile, Janus quickly rinsed his face of bubbles before washing and drying his hands himself.

“And then if flew away!” Remus was saying when Janus turned back.

“Aw,” Patton said, “that’s sad, but I bet he had some stuff to do.”

“It got eaten by a bird two days later!”

“O-oh,” Patton said, but shook off his surprise a moment later. “I think my mom had some books about local bugs in the office. Maybe we can figure out what type he was.”

“Really?!” Remus said, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Sure,” Patton agreed.

“Ooo, do you have any books on octopuses?!” he asked. “I love octopuses!”

“I’m not sure,” Patton replied, “but we can look, or I can get you one from the library.”

“Oh, and Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaapanese beetles… are also pretty cool. Anyway, can we get a book about snakes for _Evan_.”

“Of course,” Patton said kindly as Janus resisted slamming his head against the counter. “Would one of you mind getting the grape juice out of the refrigerator, please.”

“Okay!” Remus agreed, skipping over to the fridge. Patton watched him go with a slight smile on his face that made Janus want to squirm with something. He couldn’t tell if it was a bad something or not, but it was definitely a something. Patton turned a bit to glance at Janus and quirked his lips up a bit more when he saw him watching. He returned his attention to the stove after a moment and poured the eggs into a prepared bowl. Then, he brought that along with a plate of bacon and toast to the table. He’d already cut up an orange for each of them and set it at every plate.

“He knows about scurvy,” Remus said, nodding in approval upon seeing it.

Patton let out a surprised laugh. “I do,” he said. “Do you like oranges?”

“Fruits are yucky, but it’s better than your body slow breaking down and swallowing a bunch of blood because your gums won’t stop bleeding,” Remus said, grabbing a piece of orange and stuffing it in his mouth.

“I… guess that’s right,” Patton said. “Maybe we can find a source of vitamin C that tastes better to you.”

“I don’t like broccoli!” he proclaimed.

“I’ll make a note of that,” Patton replied, amused. “Would you like me to get you some eggs?”

“Uh huh!”

Patton scooped out some eggs for him and hesitated with Janus before Janus held out his hand to take the bowl from him. He then offered the plate of bacon and toast around the table. “How did you two sleep?” Patton asked.

“Really good!” Remus answered. “I like beds!” Patton grimaced a bit, but Remus didn’t notice, too busy happily making himself an egg and bacon sandwich.

“And you, Evan?”

“Fine,” Janus replied, taking a bite of eggs. He blinked down at the eggs. Janus had made eggs on occasion while on the run, but there was something different about the eggs Patton made. They were a lot fluffier, and they tasted a lot better. In fact, the bacon and even the toast tasted better, though that may have just been that it was fresh bread instead of the day-old stuff they usually got. Plus, there was a lot of food, in fact, he was pretty sure Patton had no idea how much three people could eat in one go, because it seemed like he’d made enough for six. Janus stopped eating when he was full, and it was an odd experience to have two consecutive full meals. He felt a bit tired even though he’d only just woken up.

He felt himself mentally drift a bit as Remus and Patton continued eating. They were much slower since Remus kept rambling, and Patton kept trying to politely pay attention to what he was talking about. This was nice, he supposed. It was almost scary how easily he could feel himself settle around Patton. He couldn’t get attached or used to this. They’d have to leave eventually, he reminded himself harshly.

His attention was brought back to the conversation when Remus just about flipped his plate off the table with the way he threw his arms around. “Chocolate!” he exclaimed.

Janus looked over to see if that display of recklessness would make Patton mad, but it seemed to be the opposite. He seemed to enjoy Remus’s enthusiasm. “Chocolate chip or chocolate cookies?” he asked.

“Both!” Remus demanded.

“Double chocolate cookies then,” Patton said.

“Yay!”

Patton turned to Janus. “Would you like to help us make them?”

Janus nodded. “Sure,” he agreed, surmising they were talking about baking cookies.

“Great!” Patton said. “Can you help me clear the table?”

“If it means faster to cookies, yes!” Remus said, getting up and grabbing his plate and glass.

Janus grabbed his own plate with less enthusiasm and took it over towards the sink. Patton washed the dishes while he directed them around the room to gather different supplies for the cookie making.

Patton had just put the last dish on the drying rack and was drying his hands when the doorbell rang.

Janus immediately panicked because Patton could 100% have called the cops on them before they’d woken up. Patton seemed to sense his panic. “It’s just Remy!” Patton said. “Who… you don’t know. He’s a friend. A soul-friend. I totally forgot he was coming over today after his exam. I’ll ask him to leave.” He darted towards his front door.

Janus leaned over towards Remus. “Be ready to run just in case.”

Remus nodded solemnly even if he looked a bit sad, probably because he wouldn’t be able to make cookies if they had to bolt. Then, Janus followed after Patton on silent feet.


	6. Chapter 6

Patton hurried to his front door, his mind frantically trying to figure out what he was going to say to Remy when he opened it. Yesterday, Remy had been his only soulmate, but now that was very much not the case. Patton wouldn’t know how to begin to explain the change even if he didn’t have two easily spooked children in his kitchen right now. Even if he knew where to start, he wouldn’t be able to explain without bringing up Evan and Jimmy, and their trust in him was so fragile, he feared even saying their names aloud to someone they did not know would shatter it forever.

He wanted to tell Remy though, if for no other reason than to have someone he knew and trusted to talk to about it. Patton had done his best to take everything in stride, but his head had been spinning since yesterday. Part of him thought he really had been hit by that car, and he was now having a vivid hallucination as he died. Maybe his mind was recalling the conversation about wanting children he’d had earlier in the day and was spinning a web of dreams before his consciousness faded away.

…Reality had yet to truly sink in even after a night’s rest.

He’d stayed up later than usual after he’d managed to finally find a sleeping arrangement that the children would tolerate. He’d taken the time to find and categorize every single new soulmark on his body before finally letting himself collapse into bed long past midnight. Considering what he’d found, it still took him a while to calm his brain enough to sleep.

There were, of course, the first ones he’d noticed on his hands. Three of these were in the middle on the back of his hands. Evan’s stood alone on his left hand. It was slightly towards the wrist, but still firmly in the territory that meant it was a parent-child relationship. Jimmy’s and one of the unfilled in soulmarks were on his right hand. They were so close together than someone might mistake them for one soulmark if one was not filled in and the other not.

The other two on his hands drifted more towards the side of each hand, close to, but slightly out of the range of a parental soulmark. When he cross referenced it with a diagram on the internet, he found it was more than likely a very close uncle like relationship. He wondered if, or well, hoped that those might match up with Remy’s two parental ones. It would be what made the most sense, after all.

That was five new soulmarks, but that was not where the surprises ended. When he’d finally gotten a chance to look at himself in the mirror, he’d been shocked to find a little crescent moon shaped outline on his neck. That was. Well. Patton had not expected that. It made sense, he guessed, that it was on his neck. He had definitely not expected a romantic soulmark which would be more towards the chest. He’d never really had those feelings, after all. On his neck meant it was a platonic soulmate, but not exactly _friends._ They probably shared the children as soulmates, at least the three definitely parental soulmates. It was probably a good thing considering all of the children Patton was suddenly responsible for. Or at least… he hoped he would be responsible for.

Those six had been startling enough, but he’d also gotten a few more. His back was now filled with friendship soulmarks that had not been there before. There were 5 more, in fact, putting him at a grand total of 14 soulmarks.

He was considered a Well-Loved now. He was an Unloved yesterday and a Well-Loved today. It was wonderful, but also strange and a bit terrifying. How was he supposed to explain this all to Remy, the one soulmate he’d always had, without even being able to mention the two new ones he’d found by name?

He still had not found an answer to that question even as he opened his front door.

“Sup babe,” Remy greeted immediately. “I brought coffee, but I already drank mine, so I’m going to go invade your kitchen. Kk? Here’s yours.” Patton took the coffee cup automatically as it was thrust at him. Remy then went to push past Patton into his house, but Patton quickly stepped in his way. Remy’s nose scrunched up in confusion.

“I’m actually busy today,” Patton lied. “I forgot. I have plans. Could we reschedule?”

“Busy?” Remy asked. His voice was skeptical. Patton wasn’t a good liar in general, let alone to the man who had known him since elementary school. “Busy with what?”

“Uh, just… stuff.”

Remy studied him for a long moment, his gaze somehow sharp even though Patton could not see his eyes. “What’s that on your neck?” he asked. “‘Cause it looks like some sort of weird ass hickey, but you’re ace as hell.”

Patton quickly slapped a hand over the soulmark there. “It’s uh, nothing,” Patton said.

“…What’s on your hand?”

Remy reached for Patton, but Patton jerked away, tilting his head to hide the soulmark on his neck and hiding both hands behind his back, almost spilling coffee on himself in his haste. “It’s nothing. Sorry, I can’t spend the day with you today. Can you leave?”

Patton saw Remy’s eyebrows pop up over his sunglasses. “Gurl _what_ is wrong?”

“Everything’s fine,” Patton promised, “but I need you to leave. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Uh huh…” Remy did not seem convinced. In fact, despite his standard cool demeanor, he looked rather alarmed.

“Oh god,” Evan groaned from behind Patton, “just let him in.”

Patton turned back to look at him. “But…”

“You’re a shit liar, and he’s going to call the cops on us if you don’t,” Evan said. Patton really wanted to correct the swearing but held his tongue. “Just… let him in.”

Patton turned to look at Remy who was giving him that slightly to the left head tilt that meant ‘I’m squinting at you in confusion.’

“Why don’t you come in?” Patton said. He stepped out of the way to let Remy walk into the house and closed the door behind him. They all awkwardly stared at each other for a long moment. “Let’s…” Patton finally said. “Living room. If that’s okay with everyone?”

Evan didn’t respond but stalked back towards the kitchen. Patton assumed he was getting Jimmy. That or bolting.

“What the hell, Pat?” Remy asked, voice low.

“They’re my soulmates, apparently,” Patton said. He waved the hand with Evan’s soulmark at him.

“You’re _what_?” Remy asked, then, “… ‘They’?”

Patton reached over to grab his hand, giving it a little squeeze, more for his benefit than for Remy’s. “I’m just as confused by it as you,” he said. “I got new soulmarks yesterday and two of them are already filled in.” He pulled him towards the living room. “It’s not just those two either. There’s… there’s a lot Rem.”

Remy took the coffee out of Patton’s hand and set it and his own empty cup on the coffee table so he could study both of Patton’s hands. One of his thumbs rubbed gently over one of the marks on the side of his hand. Had he done the math too? Patton had to wonder. Had he wondered why Patton did not at least have soulmarks for Remy’s children? Patton had never dared to bring it up, but Remy wasn’t stupid. Did he see the same thing in those two soulmarks as Patton?

“And some on my back too,” Patton told him.

“Not to mention…” Remy gestured at his neck. Patton put his hand over the mark, blushing a bit.

“Yeah…”

Just then, Evan and Jimmy entered from the kitchen. Jimmy looked at Remy and instantly opened his mouth. “Oh! I know you.”

Patton glanced over at Remy, but he seemed just as confused as Patton, so he turned back to the kids. Evan had gone tense all of a sudden as though readying to run. His hand dug into Jimmy’s shoulder and Jimmy’s head jerked to him. “No, something happened to him. He didn’t do something.” That confounding statement made Evan slowly relax, but he still looked over at Remy and Patton leerily. Jimmy did not seem to have the same hesitancy as Evan. He shook off the grip on his shoulder and waved. “Hi! You’re a doctor!”

Remy opened his mouth slightly. “…Well,” he said slowly. “I’m currently in medical school.

“…That’s what I meant.”

Patton watched curiously as Evan’s eyes slipped closed in frustration. Something was… off with Jimmy. Patton could not quite figure out what it was yet, but clearly something about him was being hidden, and Evan knew what it was. Patton had some suspicions, but like his knowledge that Evan was shapeshifter, he kept them to himself.

“Uh huh,” Remy replied.

“Why don’t we all take a seat?” Patton suggested. Remy looked over at him and then sat on one of the armchairs next to the couch. Patton sat on the couch next to him a moment later. Jimmy bounced over to the couch too and with no hesitation, he climbed into Patton’s lap. Patton put a hand on the boy’s head, heart in his throat. He did not dare to hug him though, as Evan was already shifting nervously without Patton effectively trapping Jimmy. Evan was left the only one standing, and he did not seem inclined to rectify this. Patton did not comment.

“So, you three got new soulmarks yesterday?” Remy asked.

“Uh huh,” Jimmy answered for them all. He curled one of his fists into Patton’s sweater seemingly not even aware of what he was doing.

“I’m not quite sure how,” Patton said. “I didn’t even know that could happen.”

“Usually it can’t,” Remy replied. “There are only two documented cases in the last century. We learned about them a few weeks ago. One was a polio patient for his doctor in the 1950s, and the other was only a year ago in New York, I think. Someone born with no soulmarks gained one randomly. In both cases, they only gained one. I haven’t even heard of any instances where multiple were gained and why it happened is greatly debated, but there aren’t enough cases to prove any sort of pattern.” Remy looked at him curiously. “Was there anything that happened to you that may have caused it?”

Patton hesitated. There was a clear answer to that question, but it wasn’t exactly easy to tell your best friend that you’d almost di-”

“He almost got smushed by a car!” Jimmy informed him. “Evan ran across the street and shoved him out of the way, but he was going to bleed out in the street and die.”

Patton winced as Remy looked at him, expression unreadable. “You were going to die?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Patton replied softly.

He could tell that the thought badly hurt Remy, but he seemed to shove the pain down. “And being saved caused the new soulmarks?” he asked.

“They were there by the time we hit the ground,” Patton confirmed.

“I guess that makes sense,” Remy said after a moment of thought.

“It does?” Patton asked.

“If you suddenly weren’t going to die when you were before, it makes sense you’d gain soulmarks.”

There was silence as the room absorbed that.

“What’s your name?” Jimmy asked suddenly, voice lighter than it probably should have been considering the previous topic. “Why are you a doctor? Why are you wearing sunglasses inside? Why are you carrying around an empty coffee cup? Are you going to refill it or just throw it away? Did you know that 16,009,402,282 disposable coffee cups were thrown away last year? Wha-”

“Whoa, whoa, one at a time kid,” Remy said, his mouth edging up into a smile. “My old brain can only process so much at once. My name is Remy.”

Jimmy frowned. “Not being able to remember many things is probably bad if you’re going to be a doctor,” he said.

Patton couldn’t help but laugh and pat his head.

“I guess you’re right,” Remy agreed. “I’ll have to work on that. What’s your name?”

“I’m, uh, Jimmy,” he said. “Like I said, that’s Evan. He’s not going to introduce himself because he’s crabby.”

“I see,” Remy replied, lips twitching. “That’s okay. He can be crabby if he wants to be. I’m sure he’s a little stressed out about everything.”

“He’s stressed out about a lot of things all the time,” Jimmy confirmed. Patton glanced up at Evan to see he was very displeased with this statement, but he kept his mouth sealed shut. “Oh!" Jimmy said, bounding a couple of times in Patton’s lap. “You should do a doctor thing to Evan!”

“ _Jimmy,_ ” Evan hissed.

Jimmy didn’t even blink at the vehemence of Evan’s tone. “His bones are growing in wrong,” he declared, matter-of-factly, “and he’s bad at being warm enough. Like a snake!” Patton internally winced. He wasn’t an expert, but that sounded like it was probably the result of shapeshifting too much and for too long. “Plus, he has bad burns on his back that are healed but still hurt him.”

“Traitor,” Evan accused hotly. He looked like he wanted to escape the room, but he obviously wouldn’t leave without Jimmy, and Jimmy was in Patton’s lap. Patton wondered if that was on purpose.

Jimmy frowned at him. “You need to see a doctor,” he insisted. “You almost pass out every day!”

“No.”

“Yes.”

They stared at each other for a few long moments.

“I’m not going to make anyone accept medical care they don’t want,” Remy said evenly. Evan looked at him. He was pretty twitchy and looked like a trapped animal. “If you want me to look at you, I will, but I won’t make you even if you are sick, and you can stop me at any time.”

“Really?” Evan asked suspiciously.

“Really,” Remy confirmed. “It’s an open offer, but we can stop talking about it if that would make you more comfortable.”

Jimmy was frowning at Evan, but Evan just glared back. The younger boy seemed to shrug it off after a moment. He tilted his head back to look at Patton. “Can we make the cookies now?” he asked.

Patton laughed. “Sure,” he agreed. “We can make the cookies.”

Evan slowly seemed to relax just a bit as the day went by. As promised, Patton made double chocolate chip cookies with the help… well ‘help’ of both Jimmy and Remy. Jimmy was a bit too enthusiastic and often almost knocked things over. He also had… interesting ideas for additions to the batter that he did not always remember to ask for permission for before putting them in the bowl. Remy, on the other hand knew exactly what he was doing when he tried poring coffee into the batter, and Patton was very unhappy with the fact that he was trying to caffeinate Jimmy of all people. Evan ended up being the most help despite insisting on just observing. He warned Patton about almost all of the potential disasters before they were put into the batter.

After the cookies were put in the oven, they went with Remy and Patton’s original plan of watching movies, though they chose more age appropriate ones than the planned romantic comedies. If Patton was being honest, he actually preferred the Disney movies over whatever Remy would have inevitably chosen.

Despite there not being any caffeine in the cookies they ate, Jimmy insisted upon bouncing between sitting on the couch with Patton and in the recliner with Evan every 30 minutes or so. This had been going on for 2¼ movies and didn’t show signs of stopping. He’d just jumped onto Patton without warning, causing Patton to jerk and accidently knock over a bowl of popcorn into Remy’s lap. Remy just laughed, looking over at Jimmy with a smile and that’s when Evan broke.

“What would you do?” he asked.

Remy blinked over at him, one hand still distractedly brushing popcorn off of his front.

“In the doctor thing or whatever,” Evan clarified.

Remy didn’t move from his seat in the armchair next to the couch, instead just folding his hands together over the popcorn in his lap. He calmly explained from across the living room with Lady and the Tramp running in the background every part of a normal doctor’s check-up. Then he explained about wanting to take a look at his burn scars as well as do a couple of X-rays.

“How would you do the X-rays?” he asked suspiciously.

Remy smiled slightly and tapped the edges of his sunglasses. “There’s a reason I wear sunglasses inside,” he said.

“You have a superpower,” Evan said, something odd in his tone.

“X-ray vision. Believe it or not, that’s not why I’m becoming a doctor.”

Evan bit his lip. “You can… do the first few things. We’ll see about the rest.”

“Alright kid,” Remy agreed easily. “Pat, you have a thermometer and blood pressure cuff, yeah? Can you get those for me?”

“Sure,” Patton said, gently pushing Jimmy off of his lap and walking to the main bathroom to grab what Remy had requested. When he returned, Remy had stood and crossed to kneel next to Evan’s chair and Jimmy had abandoned the couch to sit on his armrest.

“There was also a stethoscope,” Patton said. He set the instruments on the side table and then quickly backed off to give Evan some space and sat on the couch again.

“Thanks Pat,” Remy said without looking at him. He was careful not to crowd Evan, giving him the thermometer to take his temperature himself and asking him to tilt his head so he could flash a penlight in his ear instead of guiding it to the side himself like doctors usually did when Patton got checkups. Evan even allowed him to put the stethoscope under his shirt to listen to his breathing.

“Okay,” Remy said once he was done with that. “We’re done with that part. Up to you if you want me to do the rest.”

Evan hesitated. He glanced over at Jimmy. “Fine,” he said after a moment. “You can look at the burns.

“You’ll have to take your shirt off,” Remy said.

“Right.”

“Would you like a blanket to cover up the rest of you?” Patton offered.

Evan glanced at him. “I… Yes, I would.”

Patton nodded and grabbed one of the blankets on the back of the couch. He walked it over to him and handed it over. He took it and wrapped it around himself before starting to squirm out of his shirt from underneath it.

“Okay,” he said after he was finished. Patton could see the stress at his vulnerability growing in his eyes.

“It’s on your back, right?” Remy asked, his voice gentle.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Alright. I’m going to touch your shoulder,” Remy soothed. When Evan nodded, he reached out and slowly pulled the blanket away from his back. The acid burn scar there was much worse than the one on his face, deeper and more widespread. It made Patton’s chest ache to think about the pain that injury had caused when it had happened, especially if it was bad enough that it still hurt him now. “Okay?” Remy made sure.

“Yeah,” Evan answered.

Remy nodded and leaned forward, his fingertips just brushing the skin on the child’s back. The second their skin touched, they both jumped. “Interesting,” Remy said, surprised.

Patton’s eyes were glued on what had startled them both. A soulmark had filled in on Evan’s back right in the middle of the deepest part of the burn. It looked like nothing Patton had ever seen before. Before he and Remy had touched, Patton hadn’t been able to see that there had ever been a soulmark there. Whatever had been used across his shoulders had seemingly completely erased it, but now there was an emerald blot of color, twisted and distorted by the burn, but still definitely there. Whatever shape it was meant to be before was indiscernible, but the way the color subtlety popped out against his dark skin was still incredibly beautiful.

“I…” Evan twisted around to try to look at the soulmark in confusion, “didn’t know you could get a soulmark that was burnt off.”

“You can’t,” Remy said. He squinted at Evan and then at Patton, “but I guess you’re weird kid.”

Evan’s eyes flickered up to him. “You’re the other half of this equation,” he pointed out, “so what does that make you?”

“Eh,” Remy replied with a smile. “I already knew I was weird.”

Evan smiled tentatively back. He seemed to be calmed by the fact that Remy was his soulmate, contrary to how he’d felt when he’d learned Patton was his soulmate. Patton was a bit surprised, but he guessed it made sense considering a friendship soulmark didn’t give Remy any legal rights to him unlike a parental one. His fear was about control, Patton had surmised by the way he’d acted and the things he’d said, about autonomy. He felt Patton was a threat to that, but Remy was not one.

“I’m going to continue looking, okay?” Remy said, laying a hand on his shoulder again. Evan allowed it and Remy kept looking at the burns through his glasses still. He asked questions about how much and when they hurt, and then sat back after a few minutes. “How about the X-rays.”

Evan took a breath. “Yeah, why not?”

Remy nodded and took off his sunglasses. He spent a few minutes looking at Evan, asking him to move into certain positions every so often. Eventually he put the sunglasses back on and sat back.

“I’m going to be straight with you kid,” Remy finally said. “Are you a shapeshifter?” The tension that had left him after learning Remy was his soulmate returned full force. “It’s alright if you are,” Remy placated. “I won’t do anything or tell anyone outside of this room, but I haven’t heard much about impaired thermoregulation in anyone without a brain or spine injury unless they were shapeshifters. That combined with your bone growth irregularity imply you’ve been using shape-shifting too much.”

Evan did not seem inclined to answer, his eyes on his knees. Jimmy did not have the same reluctance. “Yes, he is,” Jimmy said.

“You’re a dick, Jimmy,” Evan grumbled.

“You probably shouldn’t teach him that,” Patton tried.

“He taught me most of it,” Evan replied with an eyeroll.

“I know all of the bad words!” Jimmy declared, cheerfully. He held up a finger as though starting to count. “Cu-”

“No, no,” Patton quickly cut him off. “I believe you.”

Evan seemed amused at least, his mind evidently taken off his powers for the moment.

Remy snorted a bit himself. “You are a character, aren’t you?” he asked.

“That’s a nice way of putting it,” Evan said.

Remy reached out to pat Jimmy on the head, and really Patton shouldn’t have been surprised when they both jolted a bit.

“Cool!” Jimmy enthused. “I have a doctor soulmate. Can you X-ray me, like with a real X-ray machine not with your weird eyes? I want to see my insides! Then can you label all of my bones for me?!”

Remy snorted. “I reiterate: a character.”

“I don’t know what ‘reiterate’ means!” Jimmy declared proudly.

“Say something again,” Remy informed him. He glanced down at his arm. “Huh,” he said. “That one wasn’t there yesterday,” he said. There was one on the back of his hand almost at his wrist, meaning it was somewhere between an older brother and an uncle relationship. Jimmy likely had one higher on his arm.

“You didn’t notice?” Patton asked.

“Bitch please,” Remy waved him off. “I woke up 5 minutes before I had to leave for my exam and came right here.”

“Remy, can you please not…”

“He almost said the ‘c’ word Patty. I think they’re a lost cause.”

Patton frowned, unhappily, but decided to let it slide for now.

Remy turned back to Evan, still smiling softly. “So,” he said. “I’m guessing you’ve been using your shapeshifting a lot.”

Evan nodded.

“Well, doctors typically recommend that people don’t shapeshift much until their around 14,” Remy informed him. “Mostly because overextending it can cause some problems. How old are you?”

“Twelve,” Evan answered after a beat of hesitation.

“Alright,” Remy said. “That’s a little bit young… and I can tell you’ve been doing it for a while. You’ve honestly messed up a bit of your growth process.”

Evan looked at his lap, not saying anything.

“I don’t blame you,” Remy said. “I don’t think you probably wanted to do all of that, which means you probably had to. You’re obviously a survivor, but it does pose some issues moving forward.”

“So, should he try to stop shapeshifting?” Patton asked.

“It would actually be worse if he doesn’t use it at all at this point,” Remy replied. He turned to Evan who was still not looking at him. “There are exercises I can give you. For now, you should only do those twice a day and no other shapeshifting. After a couple of weeks, you can start using it a bit outside of that, but no full shifts and not for more than a few minutes at a time. That should get your body heat to regulate more normally.”

Evan did not look happy with this prospect. “I’ll try,” he said dubiously.

“I guess that’s all I can really ask,” Remy said with a sigh. “The bone growth would take more to fix. More physical therapy with your shape shifting as well as without. Some of it’s probably permanent damage.”

Evan shrugged. “I’d figured,” he said a bit bitterly.

“It will be alright though,” Remy assured, putting his hand on Evan’s knee.

Evan looked up at him and Patton could see exactly what he was thinking. The being able to not shapeshift at all for two weeks. The extended physical therapy necessary to even start to fix the bone growth irregularities. Those things depended on having somewhere safe to do so. It depended on staying with Patton, and Evan still wasn’t sold on that.

“Of course,” Evan said, and Patton could tell he was lying.

Patton would need to do his best to convince him to stay. A lot more was on the line than he’d thought.


	7. Chapter 7

Over the course of the next two weeks, Janus was time and time again faced with the disconcerting fact that being around Patton was like breathing. He was an absurdly kind man who seemed to, at every turn, genuinely want to make their lives better while also respecting their privacy and feelings. The fear that Patton would purposefully do something to harm them in any way had slowly faded despite Janus fighting to hang onto it tooth and nail.

He still feared what he could accidently do out of good intentions or what could happen to them because they’d stayed in one place for too long, but he didn’t fear Patton being malicious. There had been no tricks that Janus could see. There was always an escape route open for them if they decided to bolt. They were never trapped or manipulated. Janus could not find it in him to fear Patton. In fact, sometimes he felt himself fearing for the man because of what giving Remus and Janus shelter could mean for him.

This all was very worrying because, if Janus had started to feel a twinge in his chest when he thought about leaving and never seeing Patton again once Remus fully regained his visions, then he couldn’t imagine how much distress it would put Remus through when the day finally came. Remus had never had any of the restraint Janus had when it came to Patton. From the beginning, he’d all but attached himself to the man at every opportunity, often literally. Patton sometimes would give Remus piggyback rides around the house when he needed to do something, but Remus didn’t want to be left alone. It was tragically adorable.

Remus clearly adored living here and he’d been all in from day one. Janus had already known Remus would be distraught when it was time to leave, but the day would be coming soon enough. Remus was already starting to get flashes of certain things. They were inconsistent and vague enough that Janus knew they couldn’t leave yet, but they were still there. Still, even though Remus was attached, Janus hadn’t had any question that Remus would follow him when the time came.

And then the damned cat happened.

Remus was running around the yard and Janus was watching him from his chair on the patio. It was getting a bit too cold for Janus to be truly comfortable outside despite the physical therapy helping him stay warmer recently. However, Patton had come out a few minute ago to sit and watch Remus entertaining himself. He had brought Janus a rice heating pad that he’d warmed up in the microwave as well as a blanket. Janus had curled around the warmth under the blanket, and now felt quite sleepy. Sleepy, not tired or exhausted. He’d actually been getting full nights of sleep in a real bed (even if the twin bed was a little cramped with both of them on it).

Yet, despite his warm laziness, Janus did not miss when Remus crawled under a bush. He sat up with a frown a couple of seconds after he disappeared. “What are you doing?”

Remus just giggled. Janus sighed tiredly, ready to get up, but Patton beat him to it. He set a hand on Janus’s shoulder briefly and not demandingly which was why Janus did not throw it off. “I’ll check on him,” he offered. He waited for a moment, and Janus realized he was waiting for permission. Janus nodded and settled back into his seat.

Patton walked over to the bush and bent down. “What’re you doing under there?” he asked, his voice light and happy. Remus laughed and Patton gasped, but in an overdramatic, happy tone, instead of a worried or distressed one. “Is that a kitty?!”

Remus said something that Janus couldn’t make out, and Patton reached a hand under the bush. Janus watched as, after a bit, he drew his arm back and a cat’s head popped out from under the bush. It followed the hand to bump up against it. Patton drew the cat out from under the bush with gentle pets and noises. Remus quickly scampered out of the bush himself and held out his own hand, mimicking Patton.

The cat began to walk in figure eights in order to get the maximum amount of pets from the both of them. It seemed like it might end up being a never-ending loop, but Patton finally stood back up after a couple of minutes with one last pat to its head. Remus was left on the ground with the cat, giggling and continuing to pet it.

Patton walked back over to Janus. “I’m a bit thirsty. Would you drink some hot tea if I made a pot?” he asked.

Janus nodded absently, watching as Remus found a long blade of grass and started waving it in front of the cat to get it to play with it.

Patton walked into the house to make tea. Janus continued to observe Remus and the cat. Remus went back and forth between playing with and petting the cat, seeming incredibly happy. He turned to walk away from it, and it followed after him, meowing unhappily. Remus giggled and turned back to pet the cat once more for a few seconds. This process repeated again and again until Remus finally managed to get to his intended destination. It seemed he’d spotted a bit of string that had been caught in a bush at the edge of the yard.

Patton returned around then. He had a second rice heating pad to switch out the old one with. Janus melted under it when he placed it under the blanket, barely remember to take the warm cup of tea from Patton.

Patton sat back down in his chair a few feet from Janus, and glanced over at Remus and the cat, smiling softly.

Remus managed to get the cat running around in circles and jumping to try to get the string. They played for a while until Remus seemed to get bored and plopped down onto the ground to allow it to crawl into his lap.

Janus had allowed himself to get lulled into an almost doze by the calmness and warmth, but he sat bolt upright when he suddenly heard a sniffle. The cat was still perched in Remus’s lap, but the mood had shifted dramatically. There were tears streaming down Remus’s face as he stroked the cat’s head. The cat stretched up to sniff at his face as though concerned by the tears. Janus knew exactly what had happened.

Patton, however, did not. He noticed Remus was crying only a moment after Janus had and immediately rushed over to kneel in front of him. “Oh, Jimmy, what’s wrong. Are you hurt?”

Remus shook his head, starting to cry even harder.

“Oh, honey,” Patton soothed, moving to wipe the tears off his face with his sleeve. “What’s wrong?”

“I love her,” Remus sobbed, clutching the cat to his chest. Patton looked confused for a moment. “I don’t want her to die!”

“Shh, honey,” Patton said. “What do you mean?”

“She’s too little,” Remus cried, “and she doesn’t have a mom and she’s going to freeze to death.”

Patton hesitated. His thumb idly rubbed another tear from Remus’s cheek as he thought. “What if we take her inside?” he asked.

Remus’s sobs quieted as he looked up at Patton with watery eyes. “Huh?”

Patton smiled at him slightly. “If we take her inside,” Patton said, “she’ll be nice and warm. We can get her a nice, soft, cat bed and a blanket. What would happen then?”

Remus blinked at him. “I don’t know,” he said.

“Well,” Patton said patiently, “I don’t think the cold can hurt her when she’s warm inside. So, why don’t we take her in the house?” He turned to the cat and held out a hand, palm up for it to sniff. “Do you mind if I pick you up, Miss?” Patton asked it softly. The kitten just purred and bumped its head against Patton’s hand. Patton smiled and got to his feet. He leaned down and reached forward to carefully pick the cat up off of Remus’s lap. “Could you open the backdoor for me, Evan?” Patton asked. Janus had been frozen to his chair for the entire conversation, but he snapped out of it at the question and went to open the door for him.

Janus and Remus would quickly find he was not kidding. Patton did not just let the cat into the house, he also took it to the vet for a checkup and got it shots and even a microchip. Clearly, he was expecting the thing to be a resident far past the winter months. He then got it a collar with his address engraved on its tag and all types of toys, including a cat tree, and a litter box. He did, also get it a cat bed as promised, not that she ever used it. During the day she slept in Patton’s lap and at night on Janus’s face. He even let Remus name the damned thing himself and didn’t even argue when Remus predictably named it something ridiculous: Diesel Fuel. The thing proceeded to follow Remus around wherever he went after its Christening. It adored him and he adored it.

Janus watched how much the two of them loved each other along with how thankful Remus was to Patton for letting him save the cat with dread. How was supposed to rip Remus away from this all when the time came.

He honestly didn’t know.

  


Patton was acting cagey. Janus observed him suspiciously over breakfast, though it was nowhere near the same type of suspicious it had been when they’d first eaten breakfast at this table. The man was practically vibrating in excitement over his toast. Janus was so distracted by his behavior that he didn’t notice Diesel Fuel jump onto the empty chair next to him until she’d hopped up and snatched the bacon straight from Janus’s hand. “Hey!” Janus called after her.

Remus giggled.

“Teach that thing some manners,” Janus hissed.

Remus just stuck his tongue out at him. Patton reached over and put another piece of bacon on his plate.

“Thanks,” Janus said.

“Of course,” Patton said with a smile far too wide for just being happy about Janus choosing to be polite.

Janus narrowed his eyes at him. “What?” he asked.

“What what?” Patton asked.

“Why are you being all… too happy?”

“…I’m not,” he tried.

“You’re a sh- bad liar,” he censored himself. Not because he knew cursing a lot made Patton uncomfortable. It was his own choice!

“Okay,” Patton relented, but didn’t look all that torn up about not being able to keep the secret. “I have a fun surprise for you two.”

Remus immediately gasped. “A surprise!”

“What type of surprise?” Janus asked.

“It’s a present!” Patton said.

Janus didn’t have it in him to believe that it could be anything other than a nice present. It was likely a present that was far too nice.

Remus had even fewer reservations. “A present! For me!”

“For you!” Patton confirmed, “and Evan too of course.”

“Yay! Yay! Present! Can I have it?!”

“Not quite yet,” Patton said. “It hasn’t arrived yet, but it will today.”

“Is it a pony? Or a dragon?!”

Patton chuckled. “It is not alive, no. You already have a pet remember?”

“True,” Remus relented. “Diesel Fuel is better than any stinky dragon. Aren’t you?” The cat had finished eating her stolen bacon and was currently trying to fight Remus’s socked foot to the boy’s delight.

“I’m going to have to ask you guys to spend a couple of hours either outside or in the basement though.” Janus let out a hiss of discontent at the prospect of outside. It was _cold._ Patton gave him an amused glance. “Maybe the basement would be better for today.”

“I agree!” Remus said, eyes alight with mischief.

“We are not spying,” Janus said firmly.

Remus pouted at him.

“No,” Janus said, trying not to laugh.

“Mmm,” Remus answered. Great, he’d be running interference all morning.

Patton seemed to also be able to read Remus like a book but did not bother to hide his amusement. Janus narrowed his eyes at him. He wouldn’t be the one who would have to somehow restrain Remus to a basement.

“I’ll let you two pick a movie,” he tempted.

“Like that will slow him down,” Janus grumbled. “When are we being exiled to the dungeon?” Despite saying that, the basement was actually pretty nice in Janus’s opinion. Staying down there for an extended amount of time still made him anxious since it was closed in, but a couple of hours were fine. It was three rooms. One was a giant sitting room with a little electric fireplace and a couch. There was also a mini fridge Patton kept juice in and a cabinet filled with snacks. It had a big tv and a case of movies. Patton called it the ‘movie room’ and they’d had a couple of nights where they sat down there watching things for a few hours. There was also a bedroom and a small bathroom down there for guests. Patton had offered it to one or both of them, but neither he nor Remus were interested in sleeping underground.

“Remy’s going to be here to help me soon and then, I’ll ask you to head down,” Patton told them.

Janus nodded and went back to eating breakfast. The cat pawed at Remus for food and he snuck her some. Janus pretended not to notice.

The doorbell rang a few minutes later and Patton went to open it. After a few seconds, Remy invaded the kitchen in a flurry. “I come bearing coffee! And flavored hot chocolate for those of us who can’t have caffeine for medical and/or my sanity reasons.”

“Pumpkin?” Remus asked.

“Of course!’ Remy said. “Pumpkin hot chocolate for the pumpkin.”

“Me? I’m the pumpkin?!” Remus asked, hopping up to stand on his chair in excitement.

Remy swooped forward to pick him up under the arms and swung him around in a circle. “You’re the pumpkin!”

“I guess that makes me a Lunch Lady Gourd,” Janus drawled.

“Hey,” Patton said. “No!”

Janus grinned and shapeshifted his arm to be longer so he could reach for the drink with an ‘E’ on it. He took a sip. “What is this?” he asked. It tasted pretty good.

“Salted Carmel.”

“Because he’s salty!” Remus declared gleefully from Remy’s arms.

“You get me, kid,” Remy said.

Janus rolled his eyes. “Stupid,” he said.

“Well, I did think about toasted marshmallow, but thought that was in bad taste.”

“Remington!” Patton said, scandalized, but it startled a laugh out of Janus.

“Bastard,” Janus said affectionately.

“That is not appropriate!” Patton continued scolding.

“He just compared himself to an ugly gourd. I think he’s fine with it.”

“It was rude as hell,” Janus said, “but I can appreciate that.” In truth, it was a bit nice to have someone talk about his scars like they were just normal features to gently poke fun at. He thought Remy may have picked up on that, but Patton still seemed appalled.

Despite his continued distress, Patton still suggested they go downstairs and pick out a movie so he and Remy could get started on the present. Remy set Remus back onto his chair and handed him his pumpkin hot chocolate.

“Come on,” Janus said to him, “and no peaking on what they’re doing.”

“Of course not,” Remus said, innocently. “I’d never do that.”

Remy snorted. “Sure kid.”

“Come on Diesel Fuel,” Remus called. The cat hopped down from the chair she’d been on and followed after him towards the basement.

“I’ll do my best,” Janus told the adults, “but no promises. He’s slippery.”

“If you can keep him downstairs for the 30 minutes or so, we should be mostly okay. We just have to bring something in… you might hear some banging.”

Janus raised an eyebrow. “I’m putting a lot of trust in you people.”

Patton smiled softly at Janus and Janus felt his heart squeeze a bit. Instead of confronting those emotions, he turned on his heels and followed Remus towards the basement.

“Patton doesn’t have any good movies,” Remus complained when Janus arrived at the bottom of the stairs.

By ‘good movies’ he probably meant ones that were bloody and disturbing. Janus was fairly confident that Patton probably did have a few ‘good movies’ but had hidden them. The only movies in the movie case Remus and Janus knew about were age-appropriate kid movies and Janus wasn’t going to put it in the boy’s head that there may be others somewhere.

Remus sighed and selected _Mulan_ from the case. “At least this one has swords.”

They started the movie, and Remus’s eyes were already flickering to the staircase before the intro was finished rolling. He seemed to get even more interested when they could hear banging from upstairs. He twitched a bit, looking towards the steps and Janus reached over and grabbed his hand without looking.

“I wasn’t gonna,” he claimed in a whine.

“ _No,_ Remus.”

Remus grumbled and settled back down, not that Janus expected him to give up so easily. The banging stopped after only a few minutes, but the lack of sound only seemed to increase Remus’s curiosity.

“You should go spy on them for me and report back,” Remus whispered to his cat about an hour into the movie like he thought Janus couldn’t hear him from the armchair. Diesel Fuel purred and continued to make biscuits on his thighs. “I will give you so much tuna if you do this for me.” She bumped her head into his chin, and he sighed “Why is everyone working against me? What did I do to deserve this?” Janus shapeshifted his arm to poke him in the side. He groaned and flopped onto his back. He looked up at Janus from the floor. “Want some more popcorn?” he asked innocently. “I can make it.”

“Mmm,” Janus replied, suspicious. “No, I think I’ll be the one who makes it.”

Remus gave a put-upon sigh. “Fine.”

Janus shook his head and stood, turning to the small kitchenet.

The little bastard made a break for it.

“Hey!” Janus yelled.

Luckily, he didn’t have to chase after the nightmare, because said nightmare gave an indignant squeak near the top of the stairs. Remy carried a scowling Remus back downstairs. “I wanna see!” he complained.

“You’ll see in a little bit,” Remy replied, smiling. “Patton’s finishing up a couple of things and sent me to come check on you two. It’s a good thing too since somebody was making an escape attempt.”

“Was not!” Remus claimed.

“Oh, then what was it my little convict?”

“Re-con-nais-sance!”

“Now that is a ten-dollar world,” Remy said spinning in a circle. “And a lie!” He tossed a shrieking Remus onto the couch.

“Not a lie!” Remus claimed with a giggle.

“Oh, not a lie?” Remy asked, poking him in the side to make him giggle more. “Just a fib?”

“No!” He hopped up and jumped over the couch.

Janus shook his head at them and turned to make some more popcorn. It had been a dirty trick, but Janus actually did want some more. He watched Remy and Remus as the popcorn popped.

Remy had far more energy than Janus did and had proven himself a good outlet for Remus who had boundless amounts of energy whereas Janus often barely had any. Even now that he’d been eating right, sleeping well, and not spending most of his days in a shift, Janus was often exhausted. Remy, on the other hand was able and willing to give chase around the basement as a giggling Remus attempted to dart for the staircase only to be intercepted. Diesel Fuel contributed to the chaos too, darting back and forth between the two of them.

By the time the popcorn was finished, Remy had managed to snatch a breathless Remus up and throw him back onto the couch. Janus walked over to them and dropped the popcorn into Remus’s lap. “Here’s your popcorn, you despicable creature.”

“Thanks!” he said with a cheeky grin. He had no remorse for his behavior, obviously. He shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

Janus was content to let Remus take over the keep-Remus-contained duty. He curled back up on the armchair to watch the rest of the movie. Remus chattered to Remy and bounced on the couch, but the cat seemed to have had enough excitement and had decided to come curl up on top of Janus. Janus allowed this only because she was warm, and explained as much too her, while scratching her ear for emphasis.

 _Mulan_ had ended and they’d started watching _Lilo and Stitch_ before Patton finally came down the steps.

Remus shot up immediately. “Present?!” he asked.

“Yes,” Patton said with a laugh. “It’s present time.”

Remus danced happily across the basement. He picked up Diesel Fuel from Janus’s lap and ran up the steps with her in his arms. “Where’s the present?” he yelled back down the stairs.

“Wait for us,” Patton called back. He offered Janus a hand up and Janus took it.

Remy stood up and stretched. “I’m going to leave the three of you to that,” he said with a wink. “I’ll go pick up something to eat for lunch.”

“I can cook lunch,” Patton said with a frown.

“You’ve worked enough today,” Remy said, patting him on the shoulder.

That piqued Janus’s interest in regard to the present, but he had a lot more patience than Remus. The left Remy at the bottom of the staircase to the second floor, and Patton led Remus and Janus up to the room that they’d been using since they arrived. He looked a little nervous suddenly standing at the door and looking at the two of them.

“We can change things if you like,” Patton assured, “but I hope you like it.”

Janus and Remus watched him curiously as he pushed open the door.

The first thing that Janus noticed was that the bed, or rather beds were different. The twin bed they’d been sleeping on together was gone. There were now two matching twin sized bedframes and mattresses. Patton had shoved them together so they almost looked like one, but they were two separate beds that could be pulled apart easily.

Then, Janus noticed the rest of the room. There had been one desk already, but a second one had been shoved into a corner. There was a small stack of books on the newer desk; Janus could see a snake on the cover of one. A corkboard had been installed over the beds. Patton had already pinned a couple of pictures Remus had drawn during their time here to it.

Janus saw Remus let go of the cat out of the corner of his eye. She hopped onto one of the new beds to sniff at the pillow on it. She seemed to decide it was sufficient and curled up on it.

“And,” Patton said. “There’s this for the door. If you want it.” He was holding out a hand painted wooden sign with bright green and yellow paint. It read, ‘Evan and Jimmy.’

Janus felt his throat constrict a bit. “I…” he started, but he was cut off by a chocked sound from Remus. Janus jerked his head over to see the boy had tears rolling down his cheeks. He turned and ran from the room.

Patton’s extremely worried eyes met Janus’s.

“I’ll get him,” Janus said. “I. He just. I’ll get him.” He turned and ran, though if he was more chasing after Remus or fleeing the room Patton had designed just for them, he didn’t know.

Remus was not difficult to find. He was crying loudly, and the sounds led Janus to a small closet under the stairs. Janus quietly slipped in beside him.

Remus turned to him when he was seated. “I don’t wanna go,” he cried.

Janus cringed. He’d been anticipating this conversation, but it didn’t make it any easier.

Remus… you know. You of all people know why we can’t stay,” he said. “We can’t stay still. We’ve stayed still for too long already. You know that.”

“But…”

“You know what will happen if Halo Mark finds us,” Janus said. “You’ve always known. I’m a failed investment and you’re a disobedient tool. We get caught and I die. And you know…” Janus’s eyes burnt with tears. “You know what happens to you. Staying with Patton is too much of a risk. It’s not like he can protect us. He can’t even kill a spider, let alone face off any of The Marked. As soon as your visions work fully again, we have to run. We can’t risk this.”

Remus looked at his feet for a few long moments and then said. “I don’t want to die cold.”

“We’ll find a place to stay for the winter. I know you see us freezing to death in a lot of your visions, but if we’re careful, none of those will come true. We just have to-”

Remus looked up at him abruptly, eyes serious and sharp. Suddenly Janus had the inexplicable feeling that he wasn’t talking to a 9-year-old anymore. Janus could see a man in those familiar dark green eyes. There was a man in there looking back at him from decades down the wrong path. A chill went up and down Janus’s spine. “No, Janus,” Remus said, his voice tired and worn. “I don’t want to die cold.”

“I…” Janus said, hesitating under that gaze that said so much, that had seen so much. What exactly, Janus did not know, but he knew just from those eyes that he never wanted to. “Okay,” he said. “Okay. We’ll stay.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Remus blinked, that intense expression clearing as suddenly as it had arrived. “Oh!” Remus said. “My visions just came back. Weird, I wonder why.”

“Yeah…” Janus said distantly. “I guess we’re staying.”

Remus gasped, seeming surprised and thrilled. “Really?!”

“I…” Janus said, looking him over. “Yes.”

“I have to go tell Diesel Fuel! She’s been so worried!” He sprinted from the closet and took off up the stairs screaming for the cat. Janus slowly got to his feet and followed at a much more sedate pace, his mind still racing.

He didn’t know how they would stay and not be found. He didn’t know what this future held, but he knew he didn’t want the other one. He didn’t want the future without… his eyes met Patton’s from down the hall. He slowly walked forward until he was a few feet away. Patton still seemed concerned even though Remus was clearly not upset anymore. He’d already sprinted into the room and was jumping on the bed, chattering his cat.

“Remus,” Janus said.

“What?” asked Patton.

“His name’s not Jimmy. It’s Remus, so you’re going to have to change the stupid sign.”

Patton paused, hope in his eyes. He must know what this meant. “Remus,” he said, testing it out. “I see.” There was an unspoken question in his gaze, but Janus didn’t know if he was ready to answer it even now.

“J,” he decided on. “The letter J, and that’s all you get for now.”

Patton nodded slowly. “I’ll leave room on the new sign then,” he said.

And, despite himself, that made Janus feel a little better.


	8. Chapter 8

“And then!” Remus said. “We found a huge piece of paper and I arted a dragon onto it.”

“Arted, huh?” Patton asked.

“Yeah, ‘cause I didn’t just draw it. I also used tape!”

“I see,” Patton said, biting his lip to keep in the giggles.

“Anyway, J-evan, er, J. said that we couldn’t put it up outside of the base, because it would make it easy to see that people were living there. That was okay though, because it would have gotten destroyed by the wind the next day.”

Patton nodded. Remus had said that statement with that particular certainty he sometimes did. Patton, not for the first time since Remus and J. had come to live here, thought that he probably had some sort of psychic ability. It would make sense and would explain how the two of them managed to live on their own for so long despite being so young. He hadn’t been officially told about Remus’s powers and, considering how J. had reacted to his own powers being outed, Patton hadn’t wanted to bring it up, but some of the things Remus said worried Patton. He was trying to figure out how to best broach the topic with them so he could try to help him.

“It did end up getting lost one day,” Remus continued, “when we were moving to a new place. I was sad.”

“Well,” Patton said. He pulled the pan he’d prepared with parchment paper towards him. “Maybe you can recreate the Octopus Lair drawing, or er, art piece. You can put it up on your corkboard in your room.”

Remus’s eyes widened. Clearly, he had not considered this. “Do you have a red pen and green duct tape?!”

Patton chuckled. “I’m not sure about the green duct tape, but I can grab you some from the store later today.”

“Really?!” Remus asked, eyes shining. Gosh, he was so easy to get excited. Patton loved making him happy with little things.

Unable to bear the adorable without some outlet, Patton reached forward and bopped him on the nose. His eyes went a bit cross-eyed and he stuck out his tongue just a bit. If Patton didn’t currently have a bowl in one of his hands, he’d have been unable to stop himself from hugging him. “Of course,” Patton said scrapping the last of the batter from the bowl into the cakepan. “Now, do you want to lick the spoon?”

Remus’s eyes lit up as Patton held it out to him. “Thank you!” He took the spoon Patton had been using to mix the cake batter and stuck it into his mouth. “I’m gonna go find the perfect paper!” he proclaimed as he skipped off towards the staircase.

Patton watched him go with a smile and a head shake. He’d have to remember to go retrace his footsteps and clean up any stray batter he may be flinging across the steps right now. He moved to put the cake in the oven before setting the timer and placing the empty bowl into the sink. Deciding to wash it once the spoon had been returned to him, he turned to walk into the living room. He barely managed to suppress a laugh at what he found.

J. and Diesel Fuel had discovered the electric heating pad yesterday. Currently, J. was leaning back in the recliner with the electric heating pad over his stomach and chest. Diesel Fuel was curled up on said heating pad on top of him. They were both sound asleep, J.’s hand resting in the fur on the side of Diesel Fuel’s neck.

Patton stealthily took his phone out of his pocket and snapped a few pictures. J.’s eyes flickered open a couple of pictures in, and he made a disgruntled hissing sound that could have come from Diesel Fuel if she wasn’t fast asleep.

“Sorry,” Patton said. “You two are just so cute!”

J. rolled his eyes but didn’t seem up to protesting too much. He scratched the cat’s ear and shut his eyes once again.

“Wait,” Patton said, “before you go back to napping, would you rather have pasta or burgers for dinner I need to get things thawing?”

“Mmm, what kind of pasta?” he asked without opening his eyes.

“What kind would you like?”

“Can you do chicken alfredo?”

“I think that’s pasta-ble,” Patton said.

Janus gave a soft groan of protest and Patton chuckled.

“I’ll make extra so you two can have something to eat for lunch tomorrow,” Patton said.

“Thanks.”

Patton had been taking off as much time as he could the past couple of weeks, but he still needed to work at the bakery sometimes. The owner, Mrs. Lovington, had been kind to him over the years and she was getting older. He was the only one other than her who knew how to do a lot of the things with the business, and it felt wrong making her do everything. While he didn’t actually own the business, he still felt a certain responsibility to it. Not to mention, while money was not tight with his inheritance, he was not foolish enough to depend on that forever, especially since he was planning to raise at least two kids.

Yet, he felt guilty leaving J. and Remus alone, but they weren’t comfortable with being left with anyone other than Remy (who was back at school as of this week) or being out in public too much. Sometimes they’d consent to come to the bakery briefly to eat, but overall, they wanted to hide away at home. It was fair from the little they’d told him about what they were running from. Patton knew he didn’t even have half of the story yet, but when they’d decided to stay, they’d sat him down and basically explained to him that he was in danger around him. J. had even admitted that the people who had given him his scars, who had burned off his soulmarks were the people still looking for them.

Of course, it wasn’t like they were unused to being alone. They’d cared for themselves for over a year… but still… He tried to get Remy to come as often as possible despite his busy schedule, but he couldn’t be here every day Patton wasn’t.

Thinking of Remy, the doorbell rang, drawing Patton out of his thoughts. He was a bit earlier than he’d said he’d be which meant that Janus popped up, dislodging a displeased Diesel Fuel.

“Remy probably just got out of class early,” Patton soothed. “I’ll answer it.” Despite his reassurance, J. did not fully relax back into the chair. “I’ll just be a moment.”

J. nodded tightly and Patton reached forward to pat him on the shoulder before walking out of the living room to the front hallway. He pulled open the front door but did not see Remy. He blinked and looked down to focus on the figures in front of him. There were two boys standing at his doorstep holding hands. Upon registering one of their faces, Patton frowned and instinctually looked back into his house even though that was ridiculous. Remus was just…

Before he could gather himself to speak, the boy with Remus’s face beat him to it. “Hi,” he said, drawing Patton’s attention back to him. “My name’s Roman and this is Logan.” He reached forward and poked the back of Patton’s hand right on one of the unfilled in soulmark. It filled in at his touch. “I’m your soulmate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Everything’s Fine Universe will continue with Logan and Roman’s story in _A Choice to Make._ Coming soon.


End file.
